Love Has Come To Sty

My girlfriend's wonderful, but her house is one big clutterfest, with books, papers, old bills, and Post-its everywhere. I find myself unable to relax there, so we spend all our time at my place. She knows she's messy and jokes about it, so there's no awkwardness there, but can it work in the long run between two people with such varying standards of neatness?

--Type A-Minus

There are people who march out into the world looking completely put-together, and then you open their front door and see that the only clutter-busting tip you could possibly give them is "Strike a match and run." If you don't look down on Sloppy Susan or maintain illusions that she'll change, this could work -- providing Good Housekeeping rules remain in effect: You keep your house and she keeps hers and visits yours. One major consideration is whether you'll eventually want kids. In sharing a home, you can do your best to bridge the tidiness gap -- hire a housekeeper and give your love a room of her own that she's free to decorate feng-shovel-style. Ultimately, you may need to be prepared for that day when you can't be sure whether your children have been kidnapped or are just lost in the debris pile in the den.